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Campbell @ Caro’s – Wine Glass tour of Spain

December 14, 2017 by Caro's Leave a Comment

The tasting season is almost finished for this year, with the Christmas craziness forcing us into the more immediate business of keeping our customers actually supplied. But we lately reached a happy conclusion to our year’s work with Bob Campbell MW, who came to the end of his “Wine Glass Tours” of Europe with a nice visit to Spain. The usual good humour and audience banter took us on Bob’s journey through select regions and styles of this most ancient wine culture.

Spanish whites are not as overlooked these days, but the two on offer revealed the lusher style now made by modern producers. From the portfolio of the pan-regional dynamo Jorge Ordonez, the sheer fruit richness and definition was loved by some but left others feeling they’d left Spain for somewhere in the New World.

The reds were more in line with expectation, but as we climbed the range to the top Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero and Rioja, the discussion was still around modernity versus tradition – or in this case, fruit versus oak.

A show of hands rated the La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva ‘904’ the wine of the night. Predictably, perhaps, since it was the highest price point and the most aged (2007 vintage). The heavily traditional use of American oak result in a palate behaviour very different to many premium wines of today. Some tasters were rapturously transported by its savoury layering – to these people the $95 price seemed incredibly low, which is often said of Rioja. But even the most cautious had to admit the 904 conveyed a magnificence that was sensual as well as deeply cultural – a case of winemaking style becoming all but part of ‘terroir’.

Avancia ‘Cuvee de O’ Godello 2016 – 33.99 per bottle

A very complete and full-fruited nose of ripe tree fruits and citrus with yeast, herbs and flowers, and a touch of minerality. The palate delivers the same flavours in a rounded fruit-bowl, with nice clarity and depth along with some complexing nuance of bready yeast. It is slightly rounder in style than some, perhaps, with a touch of warmth that underpins the palate and carries ripe flavours to the finish. A great quality wine that uses modern technique to highlight the breadth and richness of which Godello is capable.

La Cana Albarino 2016 – $33.99 per bottle

A more focused minerality with an oily and almost petrol note, set against lush fruit notes of apricot, citrus and well as other stone and tropical fruit. An almost candied fruit ripeness on the palate is contrasted and enlivened by fresh, racing acidity that finishes with steely lemon pith and remains in tension till the end with a lingering sweetness of fresh-cut fruit. A vibrant and distinctive wine of palpable quality.

Artadi ‘Pasos de San Martin’ Garnacha (Grenache) 2013 – $44.99 (now 2015 vintage)

Ripe red and black fruit have a lovely brightness but also a restraint, a kind of semi-gloss aura of ripe fruit that almost polishes over the depth of bready, dusty exotic spice that exudes a charming whiff of peach. Silky drive on the palate unfolds gentle but dense flavours of fruit, from red to black just like the nose, which fills the mouth and softens the dusting of fine tannins toward the nicely warming, lingering finish. Modern but very sophisticated and fine-tuned, this Artadi is simply delicious.

Artadi ‘El Seque’ Monastrell (Mourvedre) 2014 – $49.99 per bottle

Rich aromas of cassis and darkish fruits are ripe and clean, but have a meaty and gamey undertone along with a slight perfume (again) of floral white fruit. A more layered and progressive palate than the Garnacha – the attack is slow and elegant before emerging sweetness brings penetrating and powerful dark fruit on the mid-palate, which is then boxed in again by the acid and tannin structure toward a warm, reflective, granular finish. A bold and distinctive Monastrell with charisma and power, probably best after a couple of years.

Callejo Ribera Del Duero Crianza 2013 – $33.99 (now 2014 vintage)

Aromas of ripe fruits have a direct and slurpy, jam-like richness on the nose, from bright and slightly herbal redcurrant to deep plum and darker notes. Oak forms a less obvious depth on the nose but reverses this on the palate to almost dominate fruit. Fulsome texture and body means the elements don’t battle but augment each other. Power consolidates toward the end as the fruits from the nose gain real weight and presence toward an impressively long, big and integrated finish of firm oaky and tannins wrapped in dark fruit. A dramatic and compelling wine in which direct ripe fruit and powerful oak ultimately resolve themselves into a delicious sense of scale, quality and power.

Contino Rioja Reserva 2011 – $69.99 per bottle

Traditional Rioja territory now — a characterful and savoury nose in which aging has embedded the wood notes into those of red berry compote, tomato leaf and earthy tobacco. Characters are less fresh and more cooked-down by process, but palpably harmonious and classical with concentrated fruit forming a deep foundation. The wine evolves in a super elegant way, with red fruit and tamarillo/tobacco from the nose taking time to broaden through a long, complex and perfectly structured mid-palate, that finally tapers into fine powdery tannins and subtle toasty nuance. Deceptively powerful fruit and wood appears composed and medium-bodied thanks to exceptional balance and integration. Arguably the wine of the night, for more conservative or Bordeaux palates perhaps.

La Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Reserva ‘904’ 2007 – $94.99 per bottle

Ripe red fruit, tobacco, rusty earth, petrol/oil, coconut and vanilla all register intensely while somehow feeling of-a-piece and in perfect harmony on the nose. The palate is simply the silky and elegant support of the same characters, carrying them through a long development that manages to anchor an almost ethereal aura of openness into a definite sense of freshness, grip and drive on the palate. The paradoxical finish tastes slightly of ashtray but is also vinous, fresh and just gripping enough, while also nuanced by the charming fruit that lies at the still-youthful core of this supremely savoury and complex red. Stately tradition with real X factor – the inescapable wine of the night.

Lustau East India Solera Sherry – $36.99 per bottle

Raisins and dried fruits wrap up a core of citrus pith on the nose, detailed by dusty nut-shell and earthy, exotic spices (cinnamon, nutmeg). A sweet raisin attack on the palate comes with deep complexity of spicy nut notes, which carry with nice freshness to a long, open, complex and evocative finish. A classic digestif and a lot of flavour for the price.

Family Recipe – Spanish Casserole

September 13, 2016 by Caro's 1 Comment

To match with the delicious Rioja wines at our recent tasting, Mary-Jane Caro served her fantastic Spanish casserole. Complex and heart-warming it made for a stunning match with the old-school Riojas. It’s particularly good with Rioja’s star grape, Tempranillo, but it would be equally great with many other smooth, rich Spanish reds.

Spanish Casserole

This recipe is best made a day or two ahead of serving.

Ingredients:
2kg Cross cut blade steak – leave in whole piece or whole slices
1 large brown onion – chopped into quarters
2 tablespoons decent olive oil
1 large carrot – chopped into chunks
1 large celery stalk – chopped into chunks
2 cloves garlic – minced
3 cups decent white wine – something you can drink!
1 or 2 cups good beef stock – NOT stuff in a cardboard carton
85 grams Valrhona Guanaja chocolate – available at Sabato
1 bay leaf
6 juniper berries – crushed
2 12cm rosemary sprigs
Zest of ½ large orange – take this off with a vegetable peeler and don’t include any white pith
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon runny honey. You can add a little more honey in the final tasting if necessary – I usually do!
3 smoked dried Nora peppers – available from Sabato
1 teaspoon La Chinata smoked paprika – available from Sabato

Vegetables for serving:
1 large brown onion – finely diced
1 large carrot – finely diced
1 large celery stalk – finely diced
1 clove of minced garlic

Heat oven to 200°.
Heat your casserole dish or a fry pan over high heat, add the olive oil and brown the meat on all sides. Transfer the meat to a plate.
Reduce the heat to medium and cook the vegetables and garlic for 5 minutes.
Add the white wine then increase the heat and boil for 3 minutes.
Stir in the chocolate, bay leaf, juniper berries, rosemary, orange zest, and stock.
Return the meat to your casserole dish with the above mixture.
Put the casserole with a tightly covered lid in the oven and turn down immediately to 130°.
Cook for 2 hours. I look at it after 1 ½ hours but generally find it takes 2.

I now leave the meat in this mixture for 1 day if possible in the fridge then skim off any fat that rises to the surface.

When you are ready to serve, remove the meat from the mixture and strain the mixture into a clean casserole. Discard the vegetables.
Cut the meat into small/medium cubes and return to the casserole.

Add the vegetables for serving (onion, carrot, celery stalk and garlic) to a fry pan and cook slowly until very soft – about 20 mins. The above can be cooked while the casserole is in the oven warming. Add to the meat mixture and season with salt and pepper to taste plus 1 tablespoon of good balsamic vinegar.

Heat slowly as you do not want the meat to cook any more. You can thicken slightly with arrowroot mixed with a little water if desired.
Serve with mashed potatoes or couscous.

Top each serving with:

Crumb Topping

2 Cups roughly ripped sourdough breadcrumbs – easier to make if bread is 2 days old!

Sauté breadcrumbs in olive oil till crisp – I do this in the oven. Add fine zest of 1 lemon, chopped parsley and some pomegranate seeds if available.
Scatter over the top JUST before serving

Try these Rioja wine matches:

For everyday – 2011 CVNE Viña Real Rioja Crianza
A bit of a splurge – 2014 Artadi ‘Viñas de Gain’ Rioja
Something special – 2009 CVNE ‘Cune’ Rioja Gran Reserva

Oak-Aged Rioja – A Tradition of Vintage Value

August 15, 2016 by Caro's Leave a Comment

BOOK NOW FOR OUR UPCOMING RIOJA TASTING

Everyone’s making wine to drink young, these days. Wines all seem to be about lush fruit and defined ‘terroir’ character, leaving those who search for the complexities of aging in bottle and barrel wondering what has happened to their sturdy, beloved traditional styles. Even top wines are often dangerously drinkable when young, which can make it very hard for those with cellars to actually put them to proper use, and justify having them. (This is a premature, Tuesday night cork-popping problem that many of us would love to have, no doubt.)

For example, remember when Chateauneuf du Pape was a massive, sturdy beast that required 15 years or more? Well nowadays it is valued just as much for ‘poise’ and precision, with many top examples being plush and perfectly rounded on release. Even the formidable, once unapproachable wines of Barolo (with the benefit of modern winemaking and some oak influence) can be very fresh, yes, but fine and floral when young – not only drinkable, but very nearly delicious, in their way.

And top Bordeaux has famously suffered a similar fate. Not only is the cost suddenly astronomical, but thanks to certain modern winemaking techniques the wines are perhaps not as firm and reliant on cellaring as they used to be. Even for those who can afford them, lovers of old school cellar reds may find today’s Bordeaux labels attempting to be very judicious (a word used often by critics) to integrate their oak into a plump and flowing palate in which pure fruit flavours play the foremost part.

These days that’s known as good winemaking. And for many styles it is. But there remains one style that holds firm to a tradition of complexity and richness achieved by subjecting perfect fruit to the rigours of serious oak aging. Luckily it comes from a country that is still broadly undervalued. So despite an ancient history in wine – and also a tradition steeped in the best Bordeaux-style technique – the wine from here is still very inexpensive for what you get in the glass.

The country we are talking about is of course Spain, and the region is its most famous – Rioja. We have a big Rioja tasting coming up in September, so now seems timely to sing its praises.

Rioja is a very special place. Like most of the Iberian peninsula it has been making wine since a day or two after the dawn of time. Amphora have been dug up to attest its importance in the Roman era. But it was the infamous phylloxera bug in the 19th Century that defined what we know as Rioja today. When Phylloxera and mildew devastated the vineyards of France, those with the most to lose – Bordeaux’s international wine merchants – sought wine stocks from a region that was close by and (semi) Atlantic, both in wine style and shipping logistics.

Under the circumstances, Bordeaux producers must have been anxious about fruit ripeness and cleanliness. And in that regard they must have noted Rioja’s enviable situation. Though close to the Atlantic, the Cantabrian hills give Rioja protection from the maritime cold and rain. Cloistered inland and moderately elevated, very dry and sunny yet traversed by rivers, the Rioja region is, shall we say, a very, very nice place to make wine.

So their full-fruited yet sturdy product proved a suitable surrogate for Bordeaux during the hard times, which opened a crucial window into an international market. But it was the introduction of the Bordeaux-style oak barrique that was to distinguish and establish Rioja as producer of Spain’s most recognised and noble reds.

Rioja was soon hit by Phylloxera itself, which added to Spain’s relative obscurity and ensured Rioja continued to gain respect – but not the price it deserved – over most of the twentieth century. Today the situation is hardly any different – a huge range of immensely complex, premium Rioja reds are released after many years of aging, at a price hardly more than an average Kiwi Pinot.

Take the extraordinary range of 2009 Rioja reds we have on offer just now. Some are labelled Gran Reserva – the highest designation in the region. They have been given at least five years aging before release (mathematicians will note these have received seven) with no less than two of those years spent in oak. From top producers and top quality fruit, the level of the wine is among the best in the region – and therefore the world. As a result of their extensive aging they are ready to drink, or age further. And they cost around $50 each – perhaps a quarter of the price of an equivalent Bordeaux.

If you want to step it up, still older and more elevated Gran Reserva wines exist. Such a wine would be the 2005 Gran Reserva ‘904’ from a producer called La Rioja Alta. For a mere $70 something this wine offers not only extreme quality and concentration – in a gloriously sinewy and structured, deeply traditional expression – but it also, simply, delivers eleven years of wine age straight off the shelf and into your glass. Where else can you get that?

Extraordinary, but true. We’re so used to seeing Rioja wines around that we forget to consider their incomparable value. A bastion of oak-structured, aged-on-release quality, even ‘standard’ Rioja offerings represent staggering complexity and quality for the price.

And this is not only because of the delicious conditions the Rioja climate brings to its dominant red grapes, Tempranillo and Garnacha – not to mention the rising star Graciano. But it is also due to Rioja’s peculiarly Spanish penchant (and economic capacity) for holding wines back a while in barrel. Rather like the enrichment to fine Sherry provided by the Solera system, the provision for long term barrel aging has become implicit part of the Rioja style.

Though French oak is there – especially in the higher end – the more pungent properties of thicker-grained American oak is the classic thing. A mix of both types is often used, with new oak ensuring that wood flavour (coconut, vanilla, toast, ash) and texture (fine oak structure or tannins) comes through in all but the most entry-level wines.

But oak doesn’t just add flavour – being porous it also exposes the fruit to tiny levels of oxygen. This creates a development or ‘barrel-aging’ that happens much faster than in the complete closure in the bottle (though additional bottle aging is also stipulated for the local wines). Aging in barrel and later bottle, flavours slowly develop beyond ‘primary’ fruit, softening toward more cooked, dried and savoury fruit flavours. These meld with the existing mineral, spice and oak characters (which also integrate over time) to form a wine many would consider to be complete – and in great examples, sublime.

‘Gran Reserva’ is the sublime end, being top quality fruit given at least two years in oak and three in bottle before release. Reserva wines can be exceptional value, having seen at least one year in oak and two in bottle (usually more – but either way it’s more than enough age to make a very polished $30 wine). Crianza wines can sometimes be poised and food friendly (like the stylish Vina Real Crianza), but they are more often brighter or more direct in style, having had only one year in oak and one in bottle to settle down. ‘Joven’ wines are basic and may or may not see oak.

Like the rest of the world, Rioja is now influenced by fruit-forward styles – and principles of terroir, in which clarity of fruit flavour (not subjected to oak) is able to capture the nuances of individual vineyards and vintages. Whereas traditional Rioja red could be blended across the region – in fact doing so assisted house styles – now the region’s sheer fruit quality is starting to make its presence felt.

Wines like the gorgeous Artadi range represent this ‘new wave’ of Rioja, with lush, bright flavours showing off the characteristics of the landscape and certain of its single vineyards. Such new developments enhance the offering of this great region – so long as the majority of other, more traditional producers remain true to their time-honoured Rioja style. And so long as the classic methods of pre-aging in wood remain economically viable at current, wildly undervalued prices.

Because right now, times are very good for those who enjoy a complex, oaky Rioja for a very decent price. Let’s just hope that it continues, and we don’t all look back on these changing times as the twilight of a long-cherished tradition.

In the meantime, there’s only one way to insulate ourselves against that awful possibility – and to fully benefit from this continuing boon in Rioja value. Buy.

See the range of Rioja currently available at Caro’s here.

ARTADI TASTING

June 14, 2013 by Caro's Leave a Comment

Artadi Rioja Tasting Line Up

Last week we were joined by Carlos Lopez de Lacaille of top Rioja producer, Artadi, for a fantastic tasting of their wines. We’ve been importing in Artadi’s wines for several years now but this was the first chance we’d had to welcome a member of the family behind them to guide us through the range. It was a fascinating and informative evening!

Founded in 1985, Artadi rapidly established an excellent reputation for high-quality, terroir-focused wines, intent on expressing the qualities of Rioja wines at their best.

Artadi Rioja Tasting

Artaid focuses on two key concepts when creating their various wines – wines blended from several vineyards to create a style that consistently expresses Artadi’s vision of Rioja, and single-vineyard wines expressing the unique style of a particular site. They were pioneers of the latter concept in Rioja and now produce three separate single-vineyard wines.

Artadi has also expanded their operations into the neighbouring wine regions of Alicante and Navarra, hoping to capture the essence of these regions too.

We kicked off the tasting with the delicious Artazuri Blanco form their Navarra estate. Elegant and fresh it’s an interesting blend of Viura and Chardonnay.

Carlos Lopez de Lacaille of Artadi

Moving on to the reds we began with the El Seque from Alicante. 80% Monastrell, 10% Syrah and 10% Tempranillo, it was surprisingly open and forward with loads of fruit but also nice hints of earthy, funky complexity.

The 100% Grenache Santa Cruz de Artazu from Navarra comes from vineyards planted nearly 100 years ago. Deep and complex it showed great floral notes on the nose and a terrific fresh acidity that Carlos describes as ‘electric’.

We moved to the Rioja wines next with the Artadi Tempranillo first up. Coming from the estates younger vines, up to around 15 years old, this was a fruit-driven, easy-drinking style that offers really good value.

Artadi’s Viñas de Gain comes from the older vines, around 30 to 50 years old. There’s a definite step up in depth and concentration with a much weightier mouthfeel. A beautiful wine.

Artadi Valdegines Single-Vineyard Rioja

Artadi La Poza de Ballesteros Single-Vineyard Rioja

Next up were a pair of Artadi’s single-vineyard wines which were both stunning, but in quite different styles. The Valdegines, coming off 50 year old vines, was more fresh and elegant, a style Carlos described as feminine. The La Poza de Ballesteros was a distinct contrast with a deeper, earthier and more savoury nose. It was an intense wine, bigger and burlier than the Valdegines but still beautifully balanced. One of the wines of the night.

The final wine was the Pagos Viejos. This is from a selection of Artadi’s oldest vines that results in terrific depth and complexity. More subtle in style than the preceding La Poza but equally superb.

Click here to see the full range of Artadi wines available now at Caro’s.

Tasting the Artadi La Poza Rioja

Bodegas Félix Callejo Tasting

June 4, 2013 by Caro's Leave a Comment

Bodegas Félix Callejo Tasting

Last week we were lucky enough to be joined by Cristina Callejo, of Bodegas Félix Callejo in Spain’s Ribera del Duero, who flew in for just one night to host a stunning tasting of her family’s wines.

We’ve been importing Callejo for a number of years now and have always been impressed by their quality, but this was the first time we’ve held a tasting dedicated solely to their superb wines. We don’t often get to have representatives from our international wineries come over to guide us through their wines, so this was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up! It was fascinating to try the entire range together and hear Cristina share her in-depth knowledge of Callejo’s wines.

Cristina Callejo

Spanish cheeses at Callejo tasting.

One of the revelations of the tasting was the 2011 Flores de Callejo. This is Callejo’s entry-level Tempranillo, aged 6 months in oak and we were amazed by its quality. Dense purple, with a beautiful floral nose and a lush, ripe impression, it’s seriously good value.

The 2009 Callejo was similarly ripe and densely coloured, but with slightly more tannin and acidity adding structure.

One of the stars of the tasting, the 2009 Majuelos de Callejo was refined and silky with absolutely beautiful balance and a complex, perfumed nose. ‘Majuelo’ is an old word for small vineyard.

The 2006 Gran Callejo was also complex and refined with a softness and delicacy to it from its extended aging making it an absolute pleasure to drink now.

Gran Callejo

Callejo Finca Valderoble

We took a break from 100% Tempranillo wines to try the 2009 Finca Valderoble, a Tempranillo, Merlot and Syrah blend from a single vineyard, Ribera del Duero’s highest. The site was originally intended to become a small airstrip until Jose Felix Callejo realised the extreme climate and limestone soil had great potential for quality wines and planted it to vine in 2004. The wine is certified organic and is moving towards becoming bio-dynamic. Cristina pointed out that in fact, all of the Callejo wines are produced under organic farming, but the long and somewhat arduous task of official organic certification has only been undertaken on this small site. This wine is also unique in that it is fermented in unlined concrete vats, allowing for softening micro-oxygenation during fermentation. Due to a bureaucratic quirk, this also means the wine is not allowed to be labelled Ribera del Duero so is instead sold under the Castilla Y Leon designation, depsite being within walking distance of the Callejo winery. An interesting wine, dense and opaque with a very complex, savoury nose and deep, dark berry flavours.

Cristina Callejo

Félix Callejo Mini-vertical

We finished off with a trio of vintages of Félix Callejo, the 2009, 2006 and 2005. These big wines were seriously impressive with serious cellaring potential too. The 2005 was still powerful and young, while the 2009 was an absolute baby.

Click here to see the full range of Callejo wines available now at Caro’s.

Line up of Callejo wines for tasting

Producer Profile: La Rioja Alta S.A.

April 16, 2013 by Caro's Leave a Comment

La Rioja Alta

La Rioja Alta S.A. is one of the most renowned producers of traditionally-styled Rioja, with a history dating back well over a century. Originally founded as the Sociedad Vinicola De La Rioja Alta in 1890 by five viticultural families of the Basque and Rioja regions, the name was soon changed to simply La Rioja Alta.

The company now owns two wineries with the original building located in Haro, being joined by a second, modern winemaking facility built in 1996 at Labastida just 1.5km to the north-east. The new winery contains temperature-controlled stainless steel fermentation tanks, allowing La Rioja Alta much greater control of the fermentation process. The estate covers 360 hectares of vines with parcels in much of the best parts of the Rioja Alta subregion. Though primarily Tempranillo, small amounts of Graciano and Mazuelo are planted and the estate also has 63 hectares of Garnacha vines in the Rioja Baja subregion.

La Rioja Alta Vineyard

galeria_rioja_alta2

The winery has its own cooperage producing barrels from oak imported from America and dried for two years. The production of their own barrels had been an integral part of La Rioja Alta in its early days through to the 1950’s but the practice had stopped until 2002 when the company returned to tradition and revived its in-house cooperage.

La Rioja Alta

Returning to their own cooperage is not the only move to traditional practices shown by the estate. During the 1980’s, many Rioja producers were experimenting with shorter aging times in order to produce fresher, more ‘modern’ style wines that embraced a trend for more fruit-forward wines. La Rioja Alta decided to go against the trend and actually increased the aging of their wines in barrel and bottle, cementing their commitment to quality, traditional Rioja wines. Even the entry-level Viña Alberdi receives two years aging in oak and an additional three years in bottle.

The Viña Alberdi is 100% Tempranillo selected from the highest plots of their Rodezno and Labastida vineyards. The vines here are over thirty years old and grow in a soil composed of limestone and clay between 480 and 790 metres above sea level.

Next in the line-up is the Viña Arana Reserva Rioja, made up of 95% Tempranillo and 5% Mazuelo, given three years barrel age with racking every six months.

One of the true stars of the La Rioja Alta range is the Viña Ardanza Reserva. First created in 1942, it is named after one of the founding families. It is only produced in the best years, La Rioja Alta skipped both the 2002 and 2003 vintages, and the current vintage is the 2004. The wine is made up of 80% Tempranillo from thirty year old vines and 20% Garnacha coming from very old, goblet-pruned vines 600 metres above sea level in Rioja Baja. The Tempranillo spends 36 months in American oak while the Garnacha receives ‘only’ 30 months in oak to preserve its freshness, before the components are blended and bottled. The wine receives a further four years bottle age. Structure, elegance and aromatic complexity are the hallmarks of this superb example of traditional Rioja wine.

La Rioja Alta Vina Ardanza

The two top wines of the range are the Rioja Gran Reserva 904 and Gran Reserva 890, named after the years they were first produced (1904 and 1890 respectively). Both are made up of a strict selection of the best grapes, 90% or more Tempranillo, from La Rioja Alta’s oldest vines. The 904 receives four years in oak before bottling while the 890 is aged for six years in barrel before additional bottle aging.

Click here to see the range of La Rioja Alta wines available now at Caro’s.

New European Wines Have Landed

November 21, 2012 by Caro's Leave a Comment

Callejo Mazuelos de Callejo Ribera del Duero

Our newest container of European wines arrived last week and everything has been unpacked and hit the shelves. There are loads of new things to try including new Ribera del Duero wines from Callejo, a new producer for us, Clos Figueras from Priorat and Godello from Luna Beberide in Mencia among the Spanish goodies.

From France we have 2010 white burgundies from Vincent Girardin and Talmard and great value 2009 red Bordeaux from Chateau Carignan. One of the new wines we’re all eager to try is the 2011 Le G de Chateau Guiraud, the dry white from the renowned Sauternes producer.

There’s a bunch of great Italian wines in too, including top Chianti producer, Felsina, and our favourite value Sangiovese from Di Majo Norante. This year we’ve also brought in a small amount of their fantastic Aglianico called Contado and the delicious Italian white, Falanghina.

Here are just some of the wines we’ve loaded onto the shelves this week…

Chateau Carignan Prima Bordeaux Callejo Gran Riserva Rioja Clos Figueras Priorat Luna Beberide Godello Dr Loosen Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Kabinett 2011 Di Majo Norante Sangiovese Di Majo Norante Falanghina Di Majo Norante Contado Aglianico Vincent Girardin White Burgundy Talmard Macon Uchizy Felsina Berardenga Chianti Classico Andrea Felici Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Le G de Chateau Guiraud Bordeaux Blanc

Rioja Tasting

November 1, 2012 by Caro's Leave a Comment

Rioja Tasting This week we had our final tasting for the year before taking apart the tasting area to make room for silly season shenanigans. The tasting was the last, but also a first for us. For some reason, we’ve never gotten around to putting together a line up of top flight Rioja before and this tasting left us wondering why we hadn’t done it sooner.

It was fascinating to compare the wines from the various producers. There were clear stylistic differences giving a great overview of the state of Rioja wines today, demonstrating the modern, the traditional and everything in between!

First up were a pair of young wines from Artadi. The 2009 Viñas de Gain was a fresh, juicy and modern style. Medium-bodied with nice acidity. The 2009 ‘Valdegines’ is one of Artadi’s three new single-vineyard Rioja bottlings. ’09 is the first vintage of this wine, which was previously blended into the old vine cuvee, Pagos Viejos. A step up in intensity, with a slightly warmer, riper impression, but still possessing nice fresh acidity. Both the Artadi’s demonstrated the clean, modern style they helped to spearhead.

Artadi Valdegines Rioja 2009

We moved on to three wines from Bodegas Muga who are known for a more traditional style next, starting with their 2006 Rioja Reserva ‘Selección Especial’. This had a more intense nose than the Artadi, with perhaps a bit more oak evident. A weightier and more savoury wine, quite dense and serious with bigger tannins on the finish. Moving on to the 2006 ‘Torre Muga’ was another jump up in ripeness and weight. Big tannins were balanced out by equally big fruit, creating a full-bodied, soft impression. This is Muga’s big, modern, blockbuster and it was indeed a big, hefty wine. Last of the Muga’s was the 2004 Gran Reserva ‘Prado Enea’. A really striking contrast, this was a much more traditional style. Mellower, with a lovely savoury nose with hints of strawberries and floral notes. Subtle oak. This was deliciously silky and drinking just perfectly now.

Muga Prado Enea Rioja Gran Reserva 2004 Rioja Tasting at Caro's Wines

Next up was the 2005 Rioja Reserva from Remirez de Ganuza. A great balance of old and new styles here, this was full-bodied and ripe but with a great sense of elegance and real complexity. Soft, smooth tannins led to a very long finish. One of the stars of the tasting. Remirez de Ganuza is a real perfectionist estate, going so far as to only use the riper top half or ‘shoulders’) of the grape bunches in their wines – a somewhat costly practice which no doubt goes some way to explain the costs of the wines!

To finish off we tried a pair of wines from one of Rioja’s most established producers, Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España (CVNE), or Cune, as it’s often called. like the ‘Prado Enea’, these two were again a swing towards a lighter, mellower style. The 2005 CVNE Rioja Gran Reserva ‘Viña Real’ was gentle, smooth and rounded from it’s extended aging in oak cask and bottle. Nicely balanced and drinking really well now. The 1999 CVNE Gran Reserva ‘Imperial’ had a beautiful savoury nose and was equally soft, creamy and smooth. Quite delicious and very easy drinking.

It was a real treat to try such a range of high quality wines from one of Spain’s most established, but also most exciting wine regions. Caro’s imports a number of wines from Rioja so it’s a real wonder we hadn’t done a tasting like this before. Now that we have done the first, it certainly won’t be the last!

Rioja Tasting at Caro's Wines

The Rioja Tasting Lineup